Tuesday, October 06, 2015

off the grid: the choosing of an interim toronto mayor, 1978

Looking through my files recently, I found this story, which was published by The Grid toward the end of 2012. Details are sketchy - I suspect it was one of those pieces which fell off the website before the publication folded. I don't remember what the original title of this article was, though the sub-head likely mentioned Rob Ford during a time when it appeared he might be tossed from office.

Toronto Star, August 27, 1978, Click on image for larger version.

When Toronto city councillors voted for an interim mayor on
September 1, 1978, the deadlock the media predicted came to pass. Candidates
Fred Beavis and Anne Johnston had 11 votes each. Under the law, there was one
solution to determine who would fill the last three months of David Crombie’s
term: placing the contenders’ names in a cardboard box.

While it’s unknown if choosing
Rob Ford’s successor will require the
luck of the draw, the last time council filled a mayor’s term wasn’t due to a
politician departing in disgrace. After six years at the helm, Crombie used an
upcoming by-election in Rosedale to leap into federal politics. When he announced
his bid for the Progressive Conservative nomination in March 1978, Crombie
praised the public’s civic engagement during his tenure. “You can fight City
Hall in Toronto,” he observed, “and if your point of view is sensible you can
usually win.”

Toronto Sun, September 1, 1978.

When Crombie officially submitted his resignation in August,
the list of interim successors narrowed to two councillors. First elected in
1956, Fred Beavis was the longest-serving councilor and had sat
on nearly all critical committees. The genial former roofer was backed by the
Executive Committee and council’s right wing, and criticized for his support of
developers, reviving the Spadina Expressway, and eviction Toronto Island
residents. If chosen, he would be the city’s first Roman Catholic mayor. Beavis
was favoured over Anne Johnston, who was first elected in 1972, served as
the chair of the Board of Health for four years, and claimed to be the same
height as Crombie. Her support came from the left and her fellow female
aldermen, while criticisms included loose lips, lack of experience with
critical issues, and a suspicion she was a puppet for mayoral contender John
Sewell. If chosen, she would be Toronto’s first female mayor.

The decision was made during a tense 45-minute meeting. A
proposal to adjourn and move into an informal caucus was quickly voted down. Official
nominations were made for Beavis and Johnston. George Ben stunned his fellow councillors
by declaring the process “asinine and an affront to the dignity of Toronto.” He
criticized both candidates, declaring that Beavis was in it for “lousy
reasons,” while Johnston was “a joke on the people of Toronto.” Ben nominated
deputy mayor David Smith, who declined due to an informal agreement among
councillors like himself who were running for mayor in the November municipal
election not to seek the temporary position. Ben continued to fume, pointing to
40 civic employees watching the meeting who were indulging in “a rather
disgraceful waste of taxpayer’s money.”

Toronto Star, September 2, 1978. Click on image for larger version.

When the open vote split evenly, out came the cardboard box.
The winner was drawn by Pat Murphy of the Association of Women Electors, who
had covered council meetings for two decades. When Beavis’s name was pulled, it
continued his recent good luck streak of winning church draws and community
raffles. Johnston took her loss gracefully—she successfully motioned council to
unanimously approve the result, then draped the chain of office around Beavis’s
neck. She later lost to Art Eggleton in a 1985 mayoral run and was defeated as
a councillor by newcomer Karen Stintz in 2003.

While other councillors toasted him with champagne, Beavis leaned
back in the mayor’s chair and, true to his blue collar image, cracked open a
bottle of Labatt’s Blue. “I figured something you always wanted all your life,”
he told the Star, “was something you just weren’t going to
get.” The only major hiccup during the transfer of power was forgetting to grab
a key to his new office before his first full morning on the job. Beavis
fulfilled his duties without major incidents, and was re-elected to the council
seat he would retain for another decade. Crombie easily won the Rosedale
by-election, while Sewell succeeded Beavis in the mayor’s seat.

Toronto Sun, September 5, 1978. Click on image for larger version.

In a municipal election day editorial, the Star
reflected there was nothing wrong with Beavis having been the sentimental
choice for the job. “In his years on City Council, Beavis always displayed a
compassionate consideration for people of all political persuasions and a warm
sense of humour. He carried these qualities into the mayor’s office too…We
enjoyed having you as mayor.” We shall see if these will be critical qualities for
whoever replaces Rob Ford.

Ford retained the mayoralty for the rest of his term.

Additional material from the September 2, 1978
edition of the Globe and Mail, and the March 3, 1978, August
27, 1978, September 2, 1978, and November 13, 1978 editions of the
Toronto Star.